This invention relates to systems for transporting loads. More particularly, this invention relates to a system for portaging ships.
Ships and waterborne vessels serve purposes that aircraft and land vehicles cannot match. Moving ships, barges, and many other water borne vessels from one body of water to another or into a body of water is a daunting undertaking. Their great weight and bulk prevent most of them from being portaged. Only a few smaller landing craft may be portaged and these usually are lifted from the water by a crane, loaded on trucks or railroad cars, hauled to the next body of water, and placed in the water by a crane. Large ships and smaller craft require that the goods must be off loaded, hauled overland, and reloaded. This is time-consuming and uneconomical. In addition, the large ships also must have a second ship to load, if it is available.
Systems of canals and locks have been used to get across isthmuses or circumvent some land obstacles between navigable waters; however, these systems are few and far between, and often they may not be where they are needed. Building new canals takes too much time and is expensive. All such waterways are vulnerable to sabotage or other deliberate subversion, and conflicting politics may deny access to them when it is most needed. Consequently, water borne vessels may not be able to be where they are needed to complete a mission or task.
Thus, in accordance with this inventive concept, a need has been recognized in the state of the art for a system for portaging ships and other water borne vessels on air cushion platforms across land, marsh, bog, or other impediment, to navigable waters.